Loophole for sex offenders closed

Most sex offenders will now be banned from working as chiropractors beginning Aug. 1. Gov. Tim Pawlenty gave final approval to the law, which unanimously passed the House and Senate earlier this month.

The law closes a loophole that allowed a Minneapolis chiropractor to regain his license after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting two patients. Legislators acted after the Star Tribune reported in February that the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners felt compelled to reinstate Dr. Scott Fredin’s license, despite his convictions.

The state Board of Medical Practice is already prohibited from issuing a license to a doctor convicted of a felony-level sexual offense. Legislators said they want to expand the restriction to other health professions during the next session.

Do you think other professionals with a sexual misconduct conviction should be barred from working in health fields?

A Baltimore couple and their company were ordered to pay back $616,000 to Spanish-speaking immigrants for immigration services that they were neither qualified nor authorized to provide, the Federal Trade Commission announced last week.

CenterPoint agreed last week to pay at least $192,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by the City of Minneapolis and various insurance companies after a gas explosion near a south Minneapolis Cub Foods in 2011.